


Idiots

by postmortem



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Some angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 01:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6353437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/postmortem/pseuds/postmortem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back from the underworld, Regina feels lonely and broken. Turns out, she really isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Idiots

**Author's Note:**

> I guess I just like broken Regina, and I liked the idea of her not knowing that people care about her, and then somebody proving her wrong.
> 
> And I've never written anything this fluffly, so yay. ;-)

She was lying in her bed in a heap, her knees pulled up to her chest, her eyes open, but not focused on anything. Her tears had dried, her head hurt from all the crying, her nose was stuffed up, and she didn’t care that she was sniffling in a way that a refined queen would never be caught dead doing. Her breaths had become more regular, her chest wasn’t heaving anymore.

They had returned from the underworld a few hours ago. All of them. Safe. Snow and Charming had left right away to go pick up Neal. Henry had just needed to feel like a normal boy again, and had gone to meet his friends at Granny’s to tell them all about his adventures in the underworld. And Regina was happy he was being a normal teenager. Robin… she didn’t even know. She hadn’t seen him after everyone had gone their separate ways, he’d probably gone to see his own baby. Even the One-Handed Wonder was back, re-united with his princess. 

Emma. Emma had all but ignored her once she had her pirate back. Emma, her friend. Emma, her love. She had never felt so hopeless before. Emma loved the pirate, not her.

Regina had felt truly and positively alone. Lonely. She had known that tears were streaming down her face as she made her way home, but either people she had passed hadn’t noticed, or just didn’t care. The latter being more likely, in her opinion.

It had been too silent in her house. She had put on some music and turned up the volume. It was still blaring downstairs. She should go and turn it off, but she was way too exhausted. Nobody would care anyway, she was alone. Overcome with tiredness and sadness, she started sobbing again. And she kept making herself even sadder, thinking about how Emma didn’t love her, how Henry didn’t need her, how there was just no way that Robin could be her true love. She closed her eyes, wanting everything to just disappear.

She didn’t hear the front door open, didn’t hear someone coming up the stairs. She didn’t know that someone had entered her bedroom, walked around her bed, kneeled on the floor right in front of her. She didn’t know she was there until she felt a hand stroking her hair, the other gently wiping away her tears. She opened her eyes, startled, trying to say something. All that came out was a silent whisper. “Emma.”

Emma was here. Her Emma.

Regina was suddenly self-conscious about the way she had to look, her clothes wrinkled, her hair a mess, her makeup smudged. She quickly put her arm over her face.

“Regina, please look at me!” Emma tried to pull her arm away, but Regina didn’t let her. So Emma got up, and she drew the curtains closed. Then she came back, and sat on the edge of the bed. Regina lifted her arm. She saw Emma’s silhouette in the half-dark, looking at her.

“I was looking for you. Wanted to say thank you for getting us all back here… but you were gone, and Ruby said you didn’t look well when you left.”

Regina didn’t know what to say. What _was_ there to say? That she had left because she couldn’t stand being around Emma and Killian, that her heart was breaking, that she felt like she wasn’t important to anyone? She turned to her other side, away from Emma.

“Regina… what can I do to help you?”

She didn’t mean to, but a new sob escaped her. “Please go”, she whispered.

Emma was shocked. She had never seen Regina like this. She seemed so broken, but Emma had no idea what had happened. Regina had been her usual self in the underworld, saving all their asses once again. And now she was sobbing in her bed, looking so small and fragile.

She put a hand on the brunette’s shoulder, but Regina shrugged it away. And started crying harder. So Emma bent down to take off her boots. Then, she laid down beside the mayor, and tentatively started rubbing circles into her back. That didn’t exactly work though, because Regina just seemed to crumble, her whole body was shaking. So Emma decided to do something brave. She gathered Regina’s trembling body into her arms, and wrapped herself around the woman so she couldn’t push her away.

At first, Regina tried to struggle out of Emma’s embrace. But after a while, she just let go. She was no match for the sheriff’s strong arms. When Emma was sure she wouldn’t be pushed away again, her hand resumed stroking Regina’s hair. And then, she didn’t know what was coming over her, but she planted a soft kiss on Regina’s eyebrow, then another one on her temple, then her cheek. Regina seemed to relax. Her breathing once again became more regular.

“Regina”, Emma whispered, “what happened to you?”

Regina closed her eyes, and silently said “nobody needs me”. 

“What do you mean? You saved all of us! We all needed you!” Then, she added “I need you!”

Regina snorted. “No you don’t. You have Captain Guyliner, and your parents, and Henry.”

Emma was confused. What was the mayor trying to say? She took a deep breath, knowing that she might regret saying this in a minute.

“Okay, yes, but they are not you! I need you in other ways than I need them…”

Regina smiled softly. Emma had no idea. She meant well, but she couldn’t possibly know what her words were doing to her.

“Emma…” she turned her head to finally look at her friend. But in the same instant, Emma lowered her head to kiss her cheek again. Instead, she kissed Regina’s nose. She chuckled, then she said “I’m sorry… that was supposed to go somewhere else”. Then, her eyes sparkled, and she said “I’m just going to try this again.” A second later, her lips were on Regina’s. Softly, barely touching. Then she pulled back, looking at Regina with a nervous expression.

The mayor’s face fell again. With sad eyes, she said “I wish you meant that”.

Emma looked at her like she had two heads. “You… you do?”

Regina pushed her face into the pillow and muttered “forget it”.

But Emma wasn’t having any of that. “Regina, please! I need to know… if I kissed you again, would you throw a fireball at me, or…”

Regina turned her head towards Emma again. She decided that she had nothing to lose. Did Emma want to kiss her again? “I… I don’t know, I’m a little shaken up right now… but… why would you want to do that?”

Now it was Emma’s turn to hide her face in Regina’s hair. Almost inaudibly, she whispered “I’ve only wanted to do it for four years…”

They lay in silence for several minutes. Regina was confused, Emma was anxious. Emma’s nose was still buried in Regina’s hair, breathing into her neck. Then, Regina reached back, and grabbed Emma’s arm. She lifted it across her body, so they were essentially spooning. Emma slipped her other arm under Regina’s head, and joined their intertwined hands on Regina’s chest. The mayor let out a sigh. Emma’s head now rested on Regina’s. Her heart was beating like crazy when she said “I have wanted to hold you like this for such a long time. I don’t have to kiss you if you don’t want me to. But let me hold you, please”.

Regina smiled. “You’d better kiss me, I swear to god, Emma.”

Emma laughed in relief. Then, she lifted her hand to Regina’s face, and pulled it towards her. “Are you sure?” Regina nodded. And with that, Emma leaned down, and then she kissed her the way she had wanted to do for so many years. And her imagination couldn’t hold a candle to reality. Regina’s lips were soft, and they fit perfectly against her own. When they parted, Emma stroked Regina’s cheek, just taking in her beautiful face.

Then, she let go of her, and she sat up in the bed. She took Regina’s hand, and covered it with her other.

“I don’t want to kill the mood, but I just want you to know… when we were in the the underworld, I told Killian that we wouldn’t be a couple when we got back here. Or ever again. I couldn’t keep lying to myself. It has always been you that I wanted.”

Regina looked at her skeptically. “But you seemed to be so into him!”

“Yeah, well”, Emma said, “and you seemed to be into Robin Hood.” A sad smile spread on Regina’s face. “I thought that it was what I had to want. That I was supposed to want him. I don’t, Emma. I was so upset, because when we got back, the whole stress and uncertainty was gone, and I was left with nothing. And then it seemed like you finally had your happy ending. And… and it wasn’t with me.”

Emma surged forward, and engulfed Regina in a bear hug. She peppered little kisses all over her face, and then her lips. Regina chuckled against Emma’s mouth, and kissed her back passionately.

“I think I may have to apologize to your parents”, she said.

Emma laughed, and asked “why would you have to do that?”

“I just figured out that there’s a pair of bigger idiots in this town.”


End file.
